Underspace News

Welcome starchasers! Normally I'd put out something right around the 24 hour mark talking about everything but that's 4AM my time and adrenaline only gets you so far in life, so I'm doing it while I'm not asleep!
This was day 1 of our early access launch, which happily met with a lot of our expectations for sales and attention. Sadly much like me, my cats are currently at a hotel and unable to appreciate this properly. Not that they ever appreciate anything if it doesn't relate to wet food.



So, with all the new people here and so many eyes on something that isn't a Thomas the Tank Engine mod for once, let's talk about the future.

Right now I'm out of town and away from my precious actual computer, spending most of my time galavanting around at the launch party. There's a cake. It bleeds for some reason.



Anyway, onto stuff that isn't cake. Our first month of Early Access is mostly going to be focused on bugfixes and some features that didn't quite make it into launch. Some of this will include content, but by and large it'll be a focus on the aforementioned bugfixes, features, etc. As expected, it's an early access release so a lot of things go off the wall crazy.



Anyway these hotfixes will include additional work on keybinds, and that also includes controller and HOTAS support (you can see a lot of the framework for these in the game's options menu). We do have basic functionality for this already (though it currently only autodetects Xbox gamepads), but further support has always been planned. Nevertheless, given the speed of the game's combat mouse and keyboard is heavily recommended.

Our testers are familiar with this, but we are VERY quick to push hotfixes and bugfixes. I'll be back home Friday where I can properly start work on that, but the aim is to push out patches once a week at minimum starting this Friday. Don't worry, almost always these hotfixes are only a couple megabytes at most.



Now that's the roadmap for THIS month. Early May we'll be sharing with you the ENTIRE early access roadmap, including large upcoming content and feature patches that you can expect over the next year. This will include things like the remaining quests, expanded customization options, and of course multiplayer.

We're thrilled to announce the long awaited Early Access release! Lots of updates coming on the roadmap. Stay tuned!

Hello again starchasers! I've returned to you with further news regarding our upcoming early access launch!

I don't remember if I said it or not (I don't remember most things now) but regarding our previous announcement with early access we talked about how multiplayer was going to be launching in a very early state. Furthermore, there was a LOT of it that was super, super, super broken. Like... not even being able to connect correctly broken.



The good news is that multiplayer's major components are now working. You can connect, customize characters, participate in PVP, etc. But it is insanely buggy. And as anyone who has developed a persistent open world multiplayer spaceship fantasy RPG can attest to: Testing and fixing the bugs for that component takes a LOT of time.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We've made the decision that, when multiplayer launches, we want it to be the full multiplayer experience. That means NPCs, the entire main campaign for multiplayer (which trust me has a TON of cool moments), grouping, world persistence, being able to pirate other players. The works.

With that in mind and with so much of time of our time being spent testing things, we have decided to delay multiplayer until the main campaign for it is ready.



This allows us to focus on making the game as whole far stabler as well as optimizing the already enormous singleplayer portion, of which a large majority of multiplayer's content also pulls from.



I think you'll be quite satisfied with what's being cooked up for all this, and in time your patience will pay off.



That's all! See you all on launch!

[h2]Hello Starchasers! Salutations and welcome! Other greetings![/h2]



We are less than a month out from our Early Access launch. Excited? Sleepless? Suffering from splitting migraines as you try to parse documentation that’s useless to you because Google’s search capabilities have been gutted by corporate ineptitude and your previous talents of being able to figure out solutions and leverage online resources are now useless in the vast overwhelming face of tools that have become completely mediocre in their relentless idiotic pursuit of profits via the lowest common denominator that have degraded any utility to the point of unusability and it’s 3AM and your cat is screaming at you because she wants you to play with a plastic fish she brought you and you’re not supposed to be up this late and you accidentally dropped your last pain medication pill that might have made you at least capable of falling asleep down the drain?



No? Well then, good. Yeah. Let’s talk Early Access and what to expect, to better set your expectations and illuminate what’ll be in and what’ll be not-in.



The thing I want to emphasize over everything else is that we are a very small and overly ambitious team working on a VERY large game with a scope that dwarves even many AAA releases. As it stands and when it launches the amount of content that will be in, at launch, is massive. I have no doubt that many of you will be spending hundreds of hours dredging up every perverse secret the galaxy’s hidden away.




At the same time, we’re a VERY small team. Outside of our asset creators, the only person doing coding, bugfixing, UX, QA response, server integrity, mod support, etc, is me. And just me. This isn’t so much a single developer spinning multiple plates as it is a human trainwreck trying to twirl an entire restaurant, to the severe detriment of his health and sanity.



With all this in mind, our Early Access launch will not launch with the full scope of features and content planned for Underspace. Significantly, multiplayer will launch in a very early state that does not include NPCs, bosses, or the multiplayer campaign. On the singleplayer side, several questlines, extended ship customization and cockpit textures, and many planetside and station interiors will not be included in launch.



These features or content exist or are implemented in a working state, but are often heavily, HEAVILY untested or unpolished, to the point where keeping in game before they’re at least in a state I'd be comfortable with is not something I’m comfortable with.



Before you go off creating posts on various imageboards and badly rebranded social media sites decrying the Underspace apocalypse, keep two things in mind: these features are not gone or cut from the game. It’s much like Todd Howard’s kind smiling visage: even if you can’t see it it’s still there. Watching and waiting. When Early Access releases in April, we will be putting out a nice big roadmap showing a huge amount of upcoming updates to the game. These updates will be staggered out as major releases, which will include these missing pieces of content.



This also includes features or elements such as voice acting, bugfixes (as Early Access is always buggy), and further mod support.



The second thing to keep in mind is that Underspace, when it launches, will still launch with the majority of its content and the vast majority of its game features implemented. This includes the singleplayer main campaign, over 40 quests, all bosses, all points of interest, all factions, star systems, random missions, storm hazards, equipment, flyable ships, and probably many more things I’ve lost in the hazy maze that is my fried brain currently.



It has been a long long time coming, almost seven years in constant development. None of this would have been possible with the support of our backers and community, but there’s still more to go. Contributions, supporting us during the Early Access period, and of course relentlessly shilling it your friends will all help us massively, in no small part because this will also let us dedicate more resources to improving the game and getting it out in a reasonable timeframe that also, coincidentally, doesn’t overwork me to death.



And… that’s about it! If I survive, I hope to see you out in the stormy skies on April 10th!

Attention, Starchasers!



Thank you for your attention.

This week's content creator spotlight is LT Gaming, who created a list of 8 upcoming space games they were excited for and Underspace made the cut :) They mention their surprise at how much time they've already poured into Underspace, calling it "a good sign." Our composer, Eric Britt, has not one but TWO games on this list of upcoming space games, so be sure to check out the video to see all the epic space adventures headed your way this year.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Once again, for the record:



That's right, you'll all be able to play Underspace in just a few short WEEKS!



Worth noting that it's EARLY ACCESS, which means that there's still some stuff to be sorted out (mostly with the occasional bug or missing things like HOTAS support and whathaveyou) but it's content complete so you're welcome to go crazy exploring every possible nook and cranny Croft has to offer.

And if something doesn't work the way you want it to? Join the Discord and tell me about it. Early Access means I'll be putting my nose to the grindstone to make Underspace the perfect experience I want it to be for players, so any and all feedback is not only welcome, it's vital.



Can't wait until April 10? You don't have to -- check out our Steam demo available for your playing pleasure!

Please download it and let me know what you think. Or don't. I can't force you, but I can at least attempt to. You should also join the Underspace Discord. Go on, you know you want to.



Now that you've all joined the Discord (thanks!) and have tried the demo (thanks again!), here's what I did 2 weeks ago:

+ Fixed issues with sound playing.
+ Worked on more quest improvements.
+ Fixed some internal stuff with rendering to prevent black screens.
+ Implemented new mimic bosses.
+ Added new effect for in-universe callscreens and the like.
+ Implemented basic detailing on various stations.
+ Finished coding joystick implementation.
+ Fixed some room stuff.
+ Finished tons of new quests.
+ Got localized text exported.
+ Added new tech to override undersnake controls.
+ Began implementing joystick layouts.
+ Refactored how fishing drones work.



And here's what I did last week:

+ Added new title screens.
+ Multiplayer now has disclaimers.
+ Multiplayer now lets you properly customize your character.
+ Fixed account saving issues.
+ Fixed docking issues in multiplayer.
+ Fixed many display issues in multiplayer.
+ Storms now synchronize in multiplayer
+ Added space demon’s station.
+ Added more space demon dialogue.



As always, thank you all for supporting Underspace. It's incredible seeing everyone's comments, videos, and posts. If you haven't already, please help support us and give the Underspace socials a follow:

[h3]💥💥💥 UNDERSPACE 💥💥💥[/h3]
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And, because obviously:

[h3]🚂🚂🚂 TRAINWIZ 🚂🚂🚂[/h3]
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Thanks for checking out this week's devlog -- stay tuned for more Underspace updates!